


Fall Away

by lucdarling



Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bondage, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-30
Updated: 2012-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-30 08:07:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/329631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucdarling/pseuds/lucdarling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is no asking, there is no need for words. Just breathe in sync and let your heartbeat slow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> written for [kat8cha](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kat8cha), originally posted at avengerkink

He buckles the collar around her throat and green eyes flutter closed. Her face is a study in serenity and calm, mask falling away in this room because it isn't needed. They both know how easy it would be to tear it off but that hasn't happened yet.

“Too tight?” He asks, slipping a calloused finger between the soft skin of her pale throat and the smooth leather to check. 

“No,” comes the quiet answer, voice barely louder than the air conditioning unit. She doesn't call him sir because that's not what this is about. The slim leather band is an anchor, a way she's discovered over the years to ground herself from the chaos of her life and its demands.

It's an escape mechanism when she wants the world to fall away for an hour, when stress and tension and the pressure of others has knotted muscles in her shoulders they're hunched around her ears. The woman slips to her knees next to him after the door locks behind her, head inclined the faintest bit and he knows what she's asking.

She sits by his desk, legs folded under her and breathes. Her mind drifts, peaceful and blank, lithe body hidden by the low filing cabinet next to his chair. He continues filling out paperwork like it's an ordinary day at the office, pen scratching over forms that he detests.

There's only one interruption but he isn't really. He knows to tread quietly on those days, not to touch but to look away. A locked door is hardly going to keep him away from the other two, but they weren't trying to keep him out.

When they're at home, he likes to be bound. Restriction is freeing in its own way, it allows him the same peace of mind that she has when the slight weight encircles her. He lets the expectations fall by the wayside and the pressure to be the best doesn't matter because they already think he is. They tell him with their hands, laying gentle kisses over scarred skin.

His chest rises with each breath, inhaling the comforting smell of coffee, the hint of perfume and fletching glue from blunt fingers. He exhales slowly, drawing deeper into his head and dropping further into the quiet spaces. They let him, knowing he'll return when he's ready.

Warm presences on either side of him, no one speaks as the sun paints the walls with an orange glow.


	2. Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They each have their own thing. This is his.

He doesn't know how the ritual came about with her collar – they knew each other before he entered the picture. That was all right, they all connected to each other in different ways.

What he needed wasn't the weight of something more to carry, but the opportunity to rest, something either of one of them could offer. He comes home, weary and dragging his feet. Boots are shed at the door that's locked behind him, toed off slowly and left to lay next to a pair of red-soled heels.

“Hard day?” she asks, even though she knows the answer.

In lieu of a reply, he scrubs at his face with a free hand, reaching out to brush fingers over her cheek with the other. He looks down at her, smile tugging at the corner of his mouth even though he hates to ask for help. “Would you mind-” He doesn't have to finish the sentence and she knows.

He decides to sit on the couch, twisting his body so his back is presented when she returns from the bedroom. She's looped the first line around his chest and around his arms when there's the sound of the key in the door.

His fingers clench over his elbows, automatic instinct of years earlier before his body uncoils. He breathes in deeply and holds it as the man removes his shoes and comes to sit on his other side. The rope is wound again over his arms, once, twice and tied with the first knot.

Warm fingers trail against his skin, grounding him just as much as the silk slide of jute over his muscles. There's two more knots to complete the restraints and he holds still as the two work around him, with him.

He closes his eyes, letting the world go as he leans back into the thick pillow. There's a whisper of a kiss against his forehead but then he doesn't have the presence of mind to notice much else. Life is peaceful behind his eyelids, dark and welcoming. Everything is safe.

The man and woman rest on either side of him quietly, curled into him as he breathes in and out.


End file.
